In threepart harmony
by nowthenSoreDewa
Summary: Athrun. and Meyrin. and Cagalli. Cagalli and Meyrin are both busy young women. So 'world peace' is attainable, and *this* can't be happily resolved? Or, 'Athrun....needs all the help he can get.' Ch.3: 'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free...
1. The past and the present and the future

**~Sharing time~**

_United Emirates of Orb, post-Second Junius War...  
_

Meyrin's always been good at sharing.

Representative Athha ("Cagalli. Cagalli, Cagalli, _Cagalli!"_---but she still can't quite manage it...) comes over twice a week.

Meyrin reads. Or knits. Or bakes.

She knows what they're doing.

It doesn't bother her, though Athrun has yet to stop looking embarrassed when they re-appear, even after all these months.

Repre-- Cagalli always gives her a hug, and kisses her on the cheek, when she leaves.

After all, she is keeping him safe and warm the other five nights...


	2. see love shine

**~Truthtelling in bed~**

"She's a good person." She's lying with her head against his neck and an arm over him.

"She's a very good person. Pretty wonderful, really."

"Are you in love with her?"

He starts to laugh. Devoid of all amusement. "I don't think I know what love is. I'm very sure I don't. Do you?"

"No."

"I like being with her, spending time with her. The same way I liked being with you."

"Athrun, that's impossible. We're two _completely_ different people!"

"Not as much as you'd think." He strokes her thick dandelion mane. "You're a very good person, too. You both saved me. Maybe you just shouldn't have bother---Ow! Cagalli, do you _have_ to kick me?!"

"If you're gonna say moronic shit like that, yeah! I do!"

"You have _got_ to learn when someone's making a joke."

"Even when it isn't funny?"

"You won't let me joke about dying or being dead, but you'll kill or injure me yourself."

"One of these days, I'm going to take back my amulet, and then, yes!" She groans. "Athrun...."

He's silent. "What's more important to you than anything."

"Huh?"

"Isn't that what love is?"

"Is that how she feels about you?"

"Huh?"

"Meyrin."

He reaches down and pins her legs. "Maybe... but, I don't know why she would."

"That's how love works, idiot. You don't know why you love someone. You just do. _Then, _you find reasons." Her voice wavers a bit. "Athrun..." He looks up. "I do love you. I still don't know why. But you're part of this country. Which is more important to me. Than anything."

He moves up, and hugs her. "I know."

"I'm glad you're with Meyrin."

"So am I. I'm glad that you're here."

"So am I."

"Is it right, if the both of you love me?"

"We're probably not the only ones. Of course it is! Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't even know that I know how to love one person." He swallows. "I knew I could love my mother, but...my mother's gone."

"Athrun..." Her voice is gentle. She brings her hand up to his face. Stares into those infinitely green eyes, and....it's not easy, never easy being green. "The what and the how and the why and even the when...you don't need to worry about. It's the **'where'** and the '_who_', that matter."

"So are you who, or where?" He tries to classify her reassurance.

"I might be both. You, Zala, shouldn't try and separate them."

"You're a wise counselor, Ms. Athha."

"Well, dumbass...you need all the help from everyone you can get."

"I love you too, Cagalli," he says, dryly. She snorts.

"See?"

**Omake:**

"My mother...she would have liked you both."

"She was also a very good person. I know that."

"Yes, she was."

"You should feel lucky. All these wonderful people want to waste their time hanging around you, doofus."

"See, now that's a bad joke."

"But a good hug."

"...Yes."


	3. simplicity is gained

_This is for the heroically courageous **survivor18**, who actually had the guts to review this story, after more than 100 of you chickens had come to gawk at the possibility that Meyrin doesn't need to fall off a cliff or surrender Athrun for the world to right itself... and say nothing. I hope you all enjoy this part, but especially my valiant and most kind Lone Reviewer.

* * *

_

**~A larger world~**

"I worry about a lot less than I ever have when I'm with you, Athrun. Is that strange?"

"...Not that strange, Meyrin. I think it's the same for me."

She will still fastidiously groom herself on occasion, but she doesn't stress about it every day, anymore. It's fine to leave her hair loose, or in braids, or a ponytail.

Maybe it helps that she and her sister have divided Earth and Space between them.

He teaches her how to play video games _well, _as opposed to how she _could._

She teaches him how to cook, and he learns very quickly, because he's Athrun Zala, with Athrun Zala's brain. "Actually... I used to help my mother. But then I stopped."

"Athrun..."

"It's nice to get the chance again, Meyrin."

The endlessness of Earth. It's... freeing.

**~o~**

"Meyrin, if it ended up that we weren't together in the future, would you feel like you just wasted your time now?"

She propped her chin in her hands and gazed up at the sky, so much bigger, so much farther away than in the past, before starting slowly.

"My sister thinks I'm stupid, when I told her you still see Representative Athha. She says I'm an idiot, excuse me, 'a loose-moraled idiot'; that I should come back to PLANT and find a guy who only wants me."

"...Maybe she's right."

"But you and my big sister never understood each other, did you."

"...Yes, that's definitely true."

"Athrun, we're all still really young. Even if you feel like you're 35." They exchanged smiles. "I think it's all right; I honestly think it's all right... to go day by day now. Just live in the present."

He leaned his chin on her head. The wind stirred her hair, and reached out to the waves at sea.

"With all its gifts."


End file.
